How to find clients on instagram
How to Get Clients from Instagram Marketing
Are you using social media to promote your business?
Instagram, one of the biggest social media platforms available today, has more than a billion monthly active users — a figure that’s set to grow to 1.18 billion by 2023.
While Instagram has traditionally been the go-to platform for eCommerce businesses looking to showcase their goods through high-quality product shots, the platform is also a powerful tool for service business owners to grow their audience, generate leads, and, more importantly, find clients. And considering the average Instagram user spends roughly 30 minutes in the app every day, this is one marketing tool you won’t want to pass up.
If you’re an agency owner, a freelancer, or a service provider looking to increase your client roster, here’s how to use Instagram to get more clients.
Can you really get clients from Instagram?
Put simply: Yes. Any type of service provider, from a social media agency to a personal trainer, can find ideal clients through the Instagram app.
Data shows that after seeing a product or service on Instagram, 79% of global users will search for more information about it. And 67% of Americans will visit the brand’s website or app, with roughly 46% of them making a purchase (either through online or offline channels).
It’s why professional service companies are the second top advertising industry on Instagram.
Regardless of which service you’re offering, you need a well thought out Instagram marketing strategy to reach your ideal clientele, turn them into leads, and eventually paying customers.
What are the best ways to get clients from Instagram?
The key to finding clients through Instagram is sharing great content and building an engaged community. Granted, it takes time and effort (social media marketing isn’t an easy job), but if you get it right, you’ll reap the rewards.
Here are some of our favorite Instagram (IG) tips to get more clients:
- Create an Instagram business account.
- Add a “Book Now” button to your bio.
- Drive followers to your email list.
- Use hashtags to reach target clients.
- Be helpful and approachable.
- Give away freebies to drive leads.
- Use geotagging to boost your local presence.
- Share client case studies and testimonials.
- Show the human side of your business.
- Respond to prospective clients immediately.
1. Create an Instagram business account
If you already have an Instagram account for your service business, double-check that it has been converted into a business account. IG business accounts have extra features that personal accounts don’t have access to, including:
- Instagram Insights: Discover how many people engage with your Instagram content, your overall impressions, and your follower demographics.
- Instagram advertising campaigns: Have a post that’s performing well organically? There’s the option to put some cash behind it and reach more people with boosted posts.
- “Swipe up” links: Once you reach 10,000 followers, having an IG business account allows you to add links to your Instagram Stories to direct followers to specific pages.
While you’re setting up your Instagram business profile, it’s worth taking the time to make sure your profile is optimized. Upload a profile picture (either of you or your company logo) and write a bio that explains what you do. The goal is to make your small business look reputable. Accounts without a profile photo look spammy, hurting your chances of getting clients through Instagram.
Finally, add a link to your Instagram bio that diverts leads towards a site most likely to turn them into clients. Since IG only allows one link in the bio, use tools like Later or Campsite to organize and highlight your most important links, such as your service landing page, homepage, or podcast download page. This gives people a way to explore your content elsewhere and connect with you outside of Instagram.
2. Add a Book Now button to your Instagram bio
Once you’ve made your business account, IG allows businesses to add certain calls to action (CTA) to their pages. One of these is the “Book Now” button, which makes it easier for potential clients to schedule an appointment or set up a call with you.
The Book Now button integrates with a range of apps (such as Appointments by Square, Appointy, MyTime, and Schedulista), and can be added to your profile in a few simple clicks.
- Head to your IG profile and press “Edit Profile.”
- Go to “Action Buttons.”
- Choose the “Book Now” button.
- Choose your booking app and press “Confirm.”
Here’s how the button looks on @iamcoachjanine‘s account once it’s set up:
3. Drive Instagram followers to your email list
When you’re trying to acquire clients for your service business, it’s important to remember that not everyone who sees your content will be ready to buy. People buy from brands they know, like, and trust.
Email marketing is a channel praised for helping marketers build trust because it delivers value over longer periods of time in a sacred place: their inbox.
(Not convinced? Consider the fact that 59% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers think email is their most effective revenue-driving channel. It also has an insane return on investment (ROI) compared to other channels, generating around $55 in revenue for each $1 spent.)
Instagram can help you drive leads into your email marketing funnel. Once people have opted in to hear from you, you’ll be able to move leads through your nurturing sequences where they’ll (hopefully) turn into clients.
There are a few methods for using Instagram to grow your email list, such as:
- Add a link to your email sign-up page from your Instagram bio and ask followers and users to go to the sign-up page when you post new content.
- Use Instagram to promote email-only discounts. Some 40% of people follow brands on social media to learn about promotions or discounts — a superb incentive to push them towards your email list.
- Engage with users via Direct Messaging (DM), and ask for their email address to send them further information.
The best part? You can use Instagram Automation by ManyChat to promote email opt-ins, especially from Stories. IG only allows businesses with more than 10,000 followers to share “swipe up” links. With our IG Automation features, you can capture user information through DMs and feed it through to your email marketing platform. Followers join your email list with minimal friction without ever leaving the Instagram app.
4. Use hashtags to reach your target clients
There’s a hashtag for pretty much every topic under the sun, from #marketing to #poolcleaning.
Hashtags aren’t just a marketing fad, though. Instagram allows users to follow hashtags, and view posts that use the term in the caption — even if they don’t follow the brand. That means service businesses can expand their reach by including relevant hashtags in their Instagram content.
Let’s put that into practice and say you’re trying to find clients for your social media marketing agency. Tools like SparkToro pull together the most used or most talked-about hashtags on a specific subject. Use this collected information and insert these popular hashtags into your Instagram caption or as your first comment.
When you’re searching for hashtags, Instagram provides recommendations inside the text editor. Keep an eye on these, too. There can be some lesser-used hashtags that can improve your reach, instead of relying solely on more frequently used (and therefore competitive) hashtags.
5. Be helpful and approachable with your content
The purpose of your activity on Instagram is to drive leads and attract new clients. In order to do so, you need to build a sense of authority and expertise around your specialty.
Create a content calendar to share posts that are genuinely useful to your audience. Aim to solve their problems and pain points, and give them a reason to continue engaging with your service business before they recognize it’s easier to hire you.
Marketing agency Digital B posts useful content by sharing a simple carousel with an eye-catching first slide. Each image in the carousel solves a problem for its ideal client:
The bonus of sharing useful content is that it often sparks organic conversations. When this happens, make sure it’s a two-way relationship. Respond to questions and “like” any praise. Building a relationship can massively improve the chances of followers becoming clients, especially if they need further support.
6. Give away freebies to drive leads
Humans are wired to love free things. Use this psychology in your Instagram marketing strategy to give away freebies — whether that’s an e-book or live training — to hook potential clients and drive them into your sales funnel.
Not only does free content build trust with your Instagram followers, but it’s a great way to get them on your email list. Valuable content is one of the biggest incentives for people to join mailing lists, closely followed by staying in the loop with company announcements.
Use that in your strategy to offer one of the following freebies to your Instagram audience:
- A free guide or whitepaper.
- E-books or articles.
- Video series.
- Checklists.
- Email sequences or courses.
The great thing about IG giveaways is that once your freebie is created, you can give it away automatically using automation. With ManyChat’s Instagram Automation, you can trigger automated responses when a user sends a message with a particular trigger word.
For example, you could set up an automation to respond when a user includes the word “e-book” in their message. The automation then responds with a link to the e-book on your website, or asks for the user’s email address in return for the free content.
7. Use geotagging to boost your local presence
Do you only service clients in a specific location? In this case, being visible in your desired location is extremely important.
Instagram’s geotagging function makes it easy to showcase where you are and the locations you service.
It can also improve the likelihood of being discovered by people local to you. Plus, geotags boost the chances of being featured in Instagram’s Explore section, a feature used by 200 million people per day.
Here’s how tattoo artist Nora Ink uses Instagram’s geotagging feature to attract clients. She shares images of previous work and tags the area the parlor is based (Downtown Los Angeles). Anyone browsing images tagged in that location will be able to see their work.
Even if you don’t service clients in a specific location, you can still use geotagging. Rise at Seven, for example, uses its Instagram account to showcase a marketing campaign for a previous client. They geotagged the location of the campaign itself (Cornwall), and hashtagged Cornwall-related terms, to expand the post’s reach.
8. Share client case studies and testimonials
Speaking of previous campaigns, if you’re delivering great work for other clients, let people know about it. Your Instagram profile exists as a tool to market your service business.
There’s no better way of doing that than by sharing examples of your great work and how you’ve helped your previous clients.
Research shows that 72% of people think positive reviews and testimonials make them trust a business more. Whether it’s a positive client story or news about getting an award, shout about it on Instagram. Show potential clients that you deliver work that keeps your current client roster happy.
Going Social, for example, shares a customer testimonial on their Instagram page. It builds trust with their audience so when a follower needs Going Social’s services, they already trust that the agency will do a good job.
9. Show the human side of your service business
It doesn’t matter what type of client you’re trying to attract through your Instagram profile. At the end of the day, people buy from people.
“All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust,” said Bob Burg, entrepreneurial author and speaker.
Work “being human” into your Instagram marketing strategy by going behind the scenes of your business. Show how you work to deliver success for your clients. Feature a different colleague each week. Let your staff take over the company’s Instagram account for a day in the life of their role.
Research has found that Instagram posts including human faces attract more likes and comments. By sharing this type of content to your IG page, you’ll build a stronger and more meaningful relationship with your followers, leading them to become paying clients.
10. Respond to prospective clients immediately
Once you refine your Instagram strategy, you’ll start to generate a steady stream of leads.
You’ve already made it easy for potential clients to get in touch with you (through your link in bio and Book Now button), now make sure you respond to any inquiries as soon as possible.
Studies show that 46% of people expect a response to their customer service inquiries within four hours.
But if you don’t have the time to handle those questions manually, take the pressure off the need to constantly check your inbox with Instagram Automation.
ManyChat’s Conversation Starter feature allows you to configure responses to your FAQs. If potential clients want to read a case study before hiring you, for example, create a flow that directs them to the link on your website when they select the “Want to read a case study?” button.
Ready to find your next client on Instagram?
Finding clients on Instagram is a longer process than selling a product. Make sure potential clients know how to contact your business (either through DMs or email), and use geotags and hashtags in your posts to expand your reach.
The key is to build trust with your audience, share genuinely useful content, and highlight testimonials from other happy clients before people are ready to take the next step.
Ready to nurture Instagram leads on autopilot? Get started with Instagram Automation by ManyChat.
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The contents of this blog were independently prepared and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ManyChat or any other party. Individual results may vary.
How to Find Clients on Instagram in 2021
They call it “a modern calling card”, “a goldmine for business”, “a place of opportunities”. Being one of the leading social media platforms, Instagram can be really helpful when it comes to doing business. There are a lot of companies who have already realized that by developing their brands on Instagram, they can achieve great results like a surge in profits, for example. Okay, but how did these companies, brands, or freelancers manage to find clients on Instagram that gave them their money? We have compiled an ultimate guide to clarify this topic for you. Read on and learn how to get clients through Instagram and, therefore, improve the performance of your business.
How to get your account ready before finding clients on Instagram
It’s not enough just to share random content and hope that one day clients will line up and fight for your product or services. You need to work a lot on your Instagram account to bring it to perfection, and only after you can start looking for clients. Taking a look at your profile, a potential client should understand in a few minutes what products/ services you market, how he can make an order, what the price range is. However, these are not all preparations you need to make. Let’s see how to transform your account into a magnet for potential clients:
- Use your logo as an avatar if you have one. If you are a specialist providing any services, you’d better choose a photo that reflects your business. It’s a good idea for a photographer to put a pic of himself with a camera, and for a baker, it can be a pic where he is worn in a white apron.
- In the name section (do not mix up with a username), add also some descriptors.
You can write your real name + two words that reflect your business. For example, Marie Green, marketing and PR, Happy Colour, nail salon, or Good Food, healthy eating, etc. Instagram is a new Google. People often look for products/services on Instagram. If you include keywords in your name, chances are high that you will appear in someone’s search results. - Your BIO should shortly tell the most important things about your brand or you as a specialist. Describe your main products/services, country/city, contact details. Also, add a catchy phrase that explains your advantages over competitors, shows your achievements, or reflects your brand mission.
- Create a multi-link and add there your website, hot offers, contact methods, publications in media, newsletter, and everything that can be useful for a potential client. Linktree, Taplink, Shorby are the tools to help you in this matter.
- Arrange your highlights. Create a separate highlight with FAQ, reviews, prices, list of services or current offers, payment, and delivery methods, your team, projects, etc.
Always imagine yourself in your client’s shoes and do your best to save his time. Think about any questions he might have about your brand and form the answers into highlights. - Do not forget that Instagram is a visual social media. It means that the images you post should be attention-grabbing. Study current trends and design your feed based on them. If you sell clothes, show it in real-life situations not just on models posing in the studio. The freelancers who provide services in, videography, design, medicine, styling, and so on, should fill the account with their successful projects. Everyone can nicely present his projects on Instagram. Switch on a creativity mode and generate ideas.
- Pair appealing visuals from the previous point with great text content. Telling “great content”, we mean sometimes entertaining (jokes, how your team has fun), sometimes informative (sales, new items, company news), useful (texts showing your expertise), advertising (listing your services or a sale of specific products).
Avoid long sentences, write taking into account the tone of voice, and, please, include prices in captions. - Organize some of your posts in Guides. If you have a beauty brand, for example, you can create a guide of beauty products for a particular season, skin type, etc. Instagram Guides help people navigate through your content easier and quicker. This one more method to show that you appreciate your client’s time and do your best to save it.
- Video content on Instagram draws well. Make sure that you have uploaded at least 3 videos in IGTV. Show your products in action, tips on using your products, events you organize with your team, creative presentation of your brand, etc.
- Set up Instagram Shopping, if your brand sells goods on Instagram. People adore quick shopping, especially when they can make a purchase in two clicks.
Try our free tool
7 Effective Methods to Get Clients through Instagram
When your Instagram account is “packed”, you can get down to attracting clients.
The competition is tough almost in each niche. Nevertheless, these 10 effective methods of getting clients through Instagram will help you win this fight.
- Targeted Ads are one of the best methods to attract more people to your Instagram account and convert them into clients. First of all, you need to identify who your target audience is and then prepare advertisements for them. At present, targeted ads work better in Instagram Stories than in the feed. Nevertheless, test various options and you will find the most suitable for your account.
- Come up with a Lead Magnet. Using this tool, you will entice people to the sales funnel. Before buying your main product or service, potential clients should get acquainted with your brand and check whether it matches their needs or not. In simple terms, a lead magnet is some freebie from the brand in exchange for simple action from a person like contact information, a comment, tagging in stories, etc. No matter whether your lead magnet is a discount for the first purchase, free delivery, checklist, free consultation, it should be useful, unique, and clear.
- Collaborate with other brands or specialists. If you market yourself on Instagram as a makeup artist, partner with a photographer. Agree to tag each other in posts and Instagram Stories, and tell how happy you are to have such a partnership. If you sell clothes, collaborate with a brand of jewelry, and make joint advertising campaigns. Collaboration is a great way to exchange audiences, and, thus, get more potential Instagram clients.
- Be active in the accounts of your target audience. Like and comment on their posts and always react to the content featuring your brand. For example, if someone posted a picture in your cafe, or is worn in the skirt of your brand, leave a compliment. It works well on brand loyalty and, also, on attracting the attention of new people.
- Choose a suitable influencer and let him introduce you to his followers. It’s important to select an opinion leader with a similar audience to yours to make the most of this collaboration. There is no need to manually search for influencers.
Use the trendHERO tool to find suitable bloggers and also check the stats of their accounts. trendHERO will provide you with the ER, audience interests, audience type, as well as a bundle of other metrics of any Instagram account. There is also a Tracking feature within the trendHERO tool. Using it, you can see on the graph how the ER has been increasing/decreasing in the account of a chosen influencer as well as analyze the Ads efficiency. After a full check of the influencer’s account, you can decide on collaboration with him or continue searching for someone else. - Create shareable content. It can be an extraordinary image, educational video, cool story, or useful tips on doing this or that. The thing is that it’s necessary to perfectly understand your target client and know what exactly can resonate with him and make him share your content in Instagram Stories or send it to a friend.
- Use a combination of hashtags for each post you share on Instagram. They should be whether related to your business or to the image you are going to post.
Hashtags are really useful as they increase the visibility of your account on Instagram. They help your brand to be discovered by more people on Instagram who are likely to be the future buyers of your product or service.
Extra tips on how to attract clients on Instagram
As we are really interested in helping you to get a lot of clients through Instagram, here are some extra tips in addition to the main methods.
- Mutual PR is a good way to exchange audiences with other specialists from a related niche. Monitor the market, find suitable people, and offer such a collaboration. This method can be beneficial for any specialist who provides services: marketer, teacher, photographer, interior designer. Brands that sell goods do not use mutual PR very often but it can also be a great way in case of a well-chosen partner brand and creative execution.
- Organize a competition with a gift from your brand. “Mention a friend in comments” or “share our post in Stories tagging our brand” is an obligatory condition.
Such mechanics will attract more people to your account. In case they like your content, they will stay even when the competition is over, and sooner or later purchase something. - Instagram Live is one more way of communication with your audience. You can organize QA sessions, tell about your new products/services or company updates. It’s also a great idea to invite an expert from a related niche and discuss any topics that might be relevant to your audience. If you really do it great (and save your stream), your followers will share it with other people. Telling “other people”, we mean potential clients, of course.
- Communicate with your clients. Never leave their comments unanswered and put a like if they left just an emoji. Also, be empathetic and not indifferent to any issues. If your clients appeal to you with a problem regarding a product or service you sell, always ALWAYS reply to them and do your best to solve it. Believe us, if you treat your customers well, if the opportunity arises, they will tell their friends or share in Insta Stories how cool brand or specialist you are.
- Grow your personal brand. There is no need to share “expert” content only and just market yourself on Instagram. Show what person you are, what you are for and against, what your values are, what you do besides work, etc. Let’s learn by heart: “People buy from people”. If you are an interesting person living a good life, show it with your content, and this will help you get clients through Instagram.
Try the trendHERO tool for free
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are three FAQs that people who are going to find clients on Instagram for the first time usually have. Take a look at our answers!
Can any brand/specialist find clients on Instagram?
Actually, yes. Each specialist can creatively present himself on Instagram even if it seems that your field of action is not Instagrammable. In case you are a teacher, psychologist, marketer, doctor, hairdresser, event manager, fitness trainer, coach, and so on, Instagram is definitely your platform to gain clients.
When it comes to brands, some niches (delivery of construction materials, cargo transportation) can benefit more from other methods of promotion like PPC or SEO. But if you have a fashion or beauty brand, cafe, food delivery, handmade goods, stationery, you can easily find clients on Instagram.
There are restrictions for illegal activity such as the sale of drugs, weapons, explosive materials on Instagram. In addition, you can’t sell surveillance equipment, promote gambling, and offer forgery services.
Is it a good idea to find Instagram clients if you are a newbie freelancer?
Of course, it is if you are a newbie freelancer who doesn’t give up facing the first failure. You should get ready for refusals or low rates at the very beginning. Perhaps, you should agree to make several projects for free just to fill in your portfolio. Also, grow your personal brand on Instagram: tell how you chose the specialty, how you develop yourself, where you studied, etc. If you are a proactive person and a really good specialist, clients will not be long in coming.
Should I use all methods listed above to succeed in attracting clients?
Yes, you should try all ways and define what works best for you. When it comes to the paid methods to gain clients such as influencer marketing and targeted ads, we recommend testing them one by one. If you start an influencer marketing campaign and set up targeted ads at the same time, it can be complicated to analyze where more leads came from.
Conclusion
Work on bringing your account to perfection, define your ideal clients and use the methods described in our guide to attract them. If one strategy doesn’t work, there is always the second, the third, and the tenth. Test, experiment, and never give up. We wish you to find a lot of clients and become the most beloved brand or specialist for them.
How to find clients on Instagram (16 working ways)
How to maintain a profile in order to constantly monitor the growth of the audience, and why even high-quality stock photos can alienate followers? In today's article, we will figure out how to find customers on Instagram and what you need to do to attract the attention of active users of the social network.
Who can find clients on Instagram?
Alas, not all users are ready to perceive Instagram as an effective business tool. “I don’t need it”, “how can bright photos help?”, “My target audience is not there”, “too difficult” - such phrases can often be heard from the lips of users who have just stepped onto the Instagram path and do not want to understand anything. targeting, neither in geolocation, nor in other important aspects.
One simple thing to remember - Instagram is not needed only if you rent excavators. In other cases, this social network is a great way to attract and expand the target audience, understand the interests of potential buyers and establish two-way communication with them.
So who needs Instagram anyway? Let's figure it out:
- If you sell goods whose main purchase incentive is the visual component . This category includes clothing, accessories, shoes, decor, jewelry.
- If, when buying your products, customers rely more on emotional impulses than on rational grain.
For example: books, children's toys or balloons. - If you are engaged in the creation of unique products (objects of art, decor, handmade).
- If you produce something that is “bought with the eyes” (beauty services, design, confectionery, excursions, events).
- If you have creative products in your arsenal that can produce a “wow effect” on users (construction table, unusual pans for making pancakes, heated slippers). By the way, extraordinary things found in the open spaces of AliExpress are successfully sold on Instagram.
- If you own a local business (coffee shops, car washes, hostels).
- If your product is much more expensive than competitors.
Where to start?
If you are just planning to break into the Instagram environment, you should carefully consider the concept, strategy and all sorts of little things that in practice play a decisive role in promotion.
Which?
Profile design
Here are a few points to pay special attention to:
- Decide on the concept. It is important to clearly understand how your account will differ from competitors' profiles, as well as what benefits it will bring to your audience. Try to fit its essence into one capacious sentence, avoiding cumbersome constructions, for example: “VEGAN desserts and coffee with vegetable milk”, “Landscape design on the fingers”, “Turnkey apartment renovation”.
- Give your profile a simple and understandable name. It will be great if you can integrate keywords into your nickname, by which followers can easily find your page.
- Add a call to the description. Why is it worth subscribing or following the link provided in the profile.
- Post a link. Even if you don't have a website, it doesn't matter, you can specify a link to a Telegram channel or any messenger in your profile header.
- Take care of the avatar. It should not contain small details and hard-to-read names. A logo, brand symbol, or product/service image are all great options.
- Use Stories Highlights. In them, you can fix prices for services, customer reviews, information about current promotions, the address of an offline point.
- Get to know your audience through posts. The first posts (it is desirable that there are about 10 of them) should be dedicated to your brand, account idea, assortment, and so on. Firstly, it will help to get the target audience, and secondly, it will make the followers the future “lawyers” of the company.
- Make a content plan. In order not to experience the pangs of a creative crisis, make a content plan for about 1-3 months in advance. So you will not only save time, but also save yourself from a lack of inspiration.
- Synchronize your profile with other social networks. Make sure that your smartphone is enabled for two-factor authentication, synchronization with the contact list.
What for? You will need this for further magical actions aimed at attracting followers.
Posting frequency
An empty account will not attract the attention of customers, so we recommend that you first publish at least a few posts that reflect the concept of your brainchild.
Better prepare content two months in advance. The regularity of is a reliable guarantee of a constant influx of new subscribers. Posting frequency depends on the type of business. For example, if this is not an online store with a lot of products and categories, then you can limit yourself to 15-20 entries per month.
Photo
Active Instagram users have long developed banner blindness, so they automatically reject stock photos in the feed and label them as something fake.
Photos are best taken with the latest smartphones that are equipped with high resolution cameras. Avoid harsh filters and intricate graphics .
Now, instead of “pink clouds against the azure sea,” subscribers value natural and “live” content more. Unleash your imagination and creativity!
Posts
Text accompaniment under the photo should be clear and informative. To increase sales, a brand can motivate customers with pleasant bonuses, promotions and regular discounts.
Try to avoid "water" and vague wording. Yes, epithets and speech turns are fine, but do not forget about the specifics. In addition, use emojis that sell phrases, catchy headlines, bulleted lists, and other auxiliary tools that will enhance the perception of information.
How to attract customers on Instagram
First you need to create an account, come up with a concept and work on the visual. Stock photos and texts of the same type will not work in this case. Quality content is the basis of success on Instagram and you need to come to terms with this fact.
Let's say that things are going great with the content, but what if the followers are still in no hurry to subscribe to the profile? Then read the following paragraphs and mark for yourself effective methods of attracting.
Regularly post photos
Regularity - this is the factor that will help you get an army of subscribers as quickly as possible. Get into the habit of posting at least 1-2 posts per day , this will stir up the interest of existing followers and attract the attention of new ones.
Just don't panic, thinking that 2 entries a day is a catastrophic amount. Ask your subscribers a burning question, share a funny story, or tell an effective life hack. There are a lot of options for ideas for posts, you just need to turn on your imagination a little.
Advice: it is desirable to publish posts at approximately the same time.
Don't forget about the text
Let's reveal a terrible secret: not only attractive pictures are important for followers, but also high-quality text. Alas, you won’t be fed up with one visual, so you will have to learn the art of writing competent and interesting longreads.
If there is really a lot of information and you want to fully convey it to the reader, then break the text into several parts, and do not publish additional comments.
Remember that only 3 first lines of are visible to users in the feed, so try to make them as exciting and intriguing as possible (use a provocative title or question).
Research your competitors
If you are selling a product or service that your competitors are already promoting, you can safely “borrow” some of their followers. Just do not flatter yourself, because in the future a similar fate will most likely befall you.
You can search for competitors manually using hashtags, or use external resources (for example, trendHERO ).
It is important to understand that not all competitors gain a high-quality audience, so we recommend additional filtering of followers. Also, try to keep track of how your competitors are developing and what methods they use to attract customers.
Use pictures that are catchy
Stock photos, alas, will not help you gain an army of loyal followers, so we recommend paying special attention to the visual component of the profile.
You have to stand out among many competitors.
For example, you have a cozy coffee shop in the city center. Display creative compositions, take mini-interviews with employees, create short videos with mouth-watering desserts, post customer photos and backstages.
Add hashtags
Use hashtags that match the interests of your target audience, because this is how you can attract the attention of new followers. Analyze the accounts of subscribers and competitors. Study the # they leave under their pictures.
Tip: Post hashtags in the comments so you don't distract your followers from your post.
Be aware of geolocation
If your business is tied to a specific location, then geolocation will help direct the "charm" of content only to the audience that is most likely interested in the services provided.
For example, you sell suitcases, which means that your potential target audience is users who have checked in at airports in the region.
Do not neglect Stories
Now the lion's share of Instagram users prefer to look at Stories rather than monitor the feed, so don't forget about this useful tool.
Talk to your followers, conduct polls, post backstages, share interesting videos and bright pictures using stickers and cool fonts.
Mix
So that subscribers do not get bored and run away from you with someone else, combine different ways of running the Feed. Post photos and videos, alternate longreads with short descriptions, and share fascinating stories about the difficulties of running a business with your followers.
Follow other accounts
If you have just created a page, you can manually recruit followers. Take the time to study your target audience and follow only those people whose interests coincide with your activities. This will help motivate users to respond more actively to publications.
Just don't exceed the limits so you don't get sent straight to the "shadowban"!
Mass liking and mass following
Mass following and mass liking is the recruitment of an audience through the performance of mass actions.
You subscribe to other people, put likes under their posts. They, in turn, subscribe to you. You can perform these steps manually, or you can make your life easier and use a special application. For example, Instaplus .
Leave comments under the posts of followers
An old but very effective method. Just please avoid hackneyed phrases from the category: “beauty”, “super”, “I like it”. Leave detailed comments, discuss, ask questions.
Link to other social networks
Linking to a personal Facebook page works well for a personal account. You can get followers on Instagram through the active link in the description.
Tell the world about yourself
Well, with the world we went too far, but the message is clear. Let your customers know that you finally have an Instagram page. You can do this by mail or messenger.
But you need to get followers, not bother the audience, so it's better to immediately mention in the message about the benefits that people will receive by subscribing to your profile.
For example, you can appease them with a small discount or bonuses.
Make your own contest
An old, proven, and very effective way to get an impressive number of followers. It is necessary that the participant subscribes to your profile and posts a post with a page mark. Then you must choose the winner and solemnly present him with a gift.
An important nuance: only your product should serve as the main prize. For example, if you sell lamps, but will play among iPhone subscribers, everyone will take part, and not just your target audience.
Post user-generated content
Don't forget to periodically post photos and posts from clients on the page. If the buyer sent you a review about the product, take a screenshot and post it in your story. And the person is pleased, and you received the content.
For example, the MIF publishing house often publishes photos and reviews of books from readers, subscribers and buyers.
Attract influencers
Commenting on bloggers is, of course, good, but it is better to interact with influencers in the format of constant cooperation. There are several options - order advertising (in posts or stories), or make an opinion leader a brand ambassador.
By the way, due to the pandemic and quarantine restrictions, online advertising rates have dropped significantly ( by an average of 25–30% ). Companies are cutting budgets, so content creators have to adapt their appetites to new realities.
Buying ads in stories is the cheapest. This method is suitable even for representatives of the small business segment. Give a blogger a promotional code or a link with a UTM tag, and you will understand how many orders you received from him.
Ambassadorship is a relatively new format of cooperation that the audience has not had time to get bored with yet. What does this term imply? You enter into a contract with an influencer, under which he undertakes to publish a certain number of advertising posts per month, do unpacking, test products and talk about promotions.
Conditions are negotiated on an individual basis.
trendHERO will help you check bloggers' accounts for cheating and find out who will give a result and who will bring neither sales nor subscribers.
Check an influencer for free
Tips and tricks
So, we figured out the main methods, but what actions need to be taken in order to keep the attention of the audience, make it loyal and at the same time gain more subscribers?
Here is a list of tips that can be used as a beginner guide on Instagram:
- Post Stories. Recent research shows that brands that actively use Stories are better at engaging their audience. Try to upload at least 5-7 stories per day. The more, the more effective, but even in this case, it is important to know when to stop (followers can get tired of the abundance of bright pictures and meaningless videos).
- Don't try to create the perfect picture.
Being perfect is boring, so we are all for natural light, live photos and funny videos. Content like this helps you get closer to your audience, which means it increases your chances of getting new followers. - Go live from time to time. It will be cool if you use your imagination and come up with a regular column. For example, you can answer the most popular questions of followers every week or discuss important topics with them live.
- Be systematic. Post at about the same time, keep an eye on the statistics and make a content plan, including questions and topics that may be of interest to followers. Just don't try to please everyone at once. Stay true to your vision and strategy.
- Don't hide. Even if you maintain a brand page, this is not a reason to hide your face from the prying eyes of the audience. Demonstrate yourself, your team, your visitors. Firstly, such publications look very fresh and organic, and secondly, they collect more likes and comments.
- Engage followers. Polls, contests, voting are your faithful companions in the struggle for the attention of the target audience. Post interactive stories, periodically arrange like-times and ask the opinion of subscribers.
- Do not be afraid to ask for something. “Like a new post”, “leave comments”, “share your impressions” - calls that will help you significantly increase your reach and improve communication with users.
- Analyze statistics (this option is available for business accounts). This will help you understand which posts get proper feedback and which ones should be discarded.
Do you want to know the audience of your account better? Then use an effective online service trendHERO .
Conclusion
Systematic work with content, a well-designed strategy, analysis of statistics and continuous correction of errors - this is a combo that will help you collect 1,000-2,000 subscribers under your wing in a few months.
Next, we recommend connecting targeting, mutual PR and promotion services. We almost forgot about the main advice - do it from the bottom of your heart and everything will definitely work out!
Try trendHERO for free
11 Ways to Find Clients on Instagram
Instagram as a channel for communicating with your customers is suitable for 70-85% of businesses. Many brands have been present on this social network for a long time, and now small and medium-sized businesses are starting to actively use this platform. And they do it right!
In this article, I will give you 11 ways to find targeted followers for your Instagram account. When using these strategies, the backsubscription conversion rate is about 20%.
Method #1 Competitive Analysis
The simplest customer acquisition strategy is great for small local businesses or online stores. Just identify the profiles of the main competitors - this is easy to do using the websta.
me service or manually by searching. For example, you are a beauty salon in the center of Novosibirsk. Find an account of a neighboring salon with 1000 subscribers. This 1000 will also be your potential audience.
Option #2 Competitive Analysis/Option 2
It happens that a business has no direct competitors. Examples from my experience: children's plasticine animation studio, drawing workshops with wine tasting. Then we use the following algorithm.
- With the help of Cerebro we find group administrators and active users of groups of similar subjects - drawing lessons, art therapy, wine lovers in VKontakte.
- We segment the collected database by city and use a new function - collecting Instagram accounts of the collected database.
Total: you will get 1000-1500 potential customers with a high probability of being interested in your product. Plus, you will receive additional information about potential customers from VKontakte. And this is useful, since Vkontakte collects much more data about its users, which allows you to better target your offer.
Method #3 Linking VKontakte-Instagram
Using Cerebro, you can also analyze the audience of Vkontakte groups that are close to you in terms of topics. The algorithm in this situation can be changed depending on the goal. You can segment by region, by interest, and more. and then extract Instagram accounts from the collected database. This method is not so much accurate as mass. For one or two analyzes, you can increase the base by 10-15 thousand accounts of potential customers. Agree, is it good?
Method #4 Link Vkontakte-Instagram/ Regional search
This is a variant of the strategy No. 3. This method is good and relevant for businesses that are tied to a specific region, city or even district. After you have collected a large base of active users by interest with the help of Cerebro, you can segment it by region and only then extract Instagram accounts from it. This method is convenient, since you can analyze such groups from Vkontakte that are geo-referenced: “where to go in Moscow” or “residents of the Sokol district”.
This way you will gather interested users with a certain location, who are most likely to be interested in your offer.
Method #5 Event search
In addition to thematic groups, events can also be a source - exhibitions, fairs, industry meetings - usually there are no "extra" people at them, and it is useful to work out this audience for the development of your account. You can find it in two ways:
- through Cerebro, collect those who have noted as participants in VKontakte events and highlight their Instagram accounts.
- search by a specific event hashtag: conference of IT companies #RIF2015 or hand-made fair #paradiseapples.
Method #6 Geolocation
For businesses that are tied to a place (beauty salons, fitness rooms, yoga studios, coffee shops and coffee shops), the geolocation criterion can easily become decisive. Automated services allow you to collect all possible points in a certain area where users posted photos on Instagram.
As a rule, these points have a signature. Next, you simply filter them by a similar audience. For example, visitors to local cafes, restaurants, parks are suitable for a fitness club and a beauty salon. But if someone is marked as a visitor to a kindergarten, then there is no point in adding this contact to the database. As a result, you will have a database of users that you manually filtered according to the criteria you need. Pretty annoying, but effective.
Method #7 Geolocation with a filter by interests
For local city businesses, there is another option - to collect a large geolocation database (it can even be the whole city - tens and hundreds of people), and then drive it through the hashtags you need and are interested in. This is an approximate search, but it gives good results.
Method #8 By locations and places
After you have identified the most popular outlets in your area that are similar to your business (a flower shop can safely look at restaurants, and a restaurant can look at nearby cinemas, parks or business centers), look whether these outlets have their own Instagram accounts.
Even a small audience of a local club, shop or cinema can be your audience.
Technique #9 Trendsetters
In addition to the well-loved and popular trendsetter advertising, which is actively promoted by various exchanges such as labelup and plibber, you can also work with subscribers and trendsetter subscriptions in other ways. Highlight one or two influencers in your industry and look at who they follow and who follows them. It's handmade, but you'll see interesting patterns and get a few hundred people into your lead base.
Method #10 Trendsetter's locations
If you have already contacted a specific opinion leader and authority in your industry, it makes sense to look at what places he visits and where his like-minded people are. This is easy to do manually by analyzing his account for photos taken in certain places. And then analyze the audience of the locations themselves, as described above.
Method #11 Seasonal Services Audience
For those businesses where seasonality or eventfulness strongly influences the search for clients (for example, wedding salons or photographers), there are also solutions for finding potential clients on Instagram.
The main difficulty here is to find Instagram accounts of people who are just planning an event - a wedding, a trip, etc., and have not already posted their photos from there (that is, a simple hashtag search will not work). In this case, it is again necessary to use VKontakte. I propose the following algorithm: to collect active users of thematic groups and especially newcomers (who have entered in the last 2-3 months). After you collect this active audience with the help of Cerebro, do a cross-analysis of what other communities it belongs to. This way you will collect their Instagram accounts and expand your base as much as possible: with a probability of 80% your offer will be in demand.
Resume:
Once you've built a decent base of leads on Instagram, you might be wondering if it makes sense to run mass liking, mass following, or manually write comments to each user. This is the topic of the next article. But in my opinion, there can be no doubt that customers can and should be searched through Instagram, that it is possible to segment and target the audience there.
